Entering Waivers
Andy,
What are some other options for entering waivers? I've heard rumors about either scanning drivers liscense information and it populating the customer info. Also I've heard that the document scanning will also populate the customer info fields. Any other super high tech things I should know about? or are those even possible?
Thanks,
-Josh
Comments
Unfortunately, nothing high tech yet except your staff member's fingers!
By the end of 2010 I hope to have a waiver kiosk system so that the customers can complete their information, print a waiver, and that information will automatically be added to RGP.
That sounds wonderful! Would there really be a need to print though? Maybe a signature pad or something to work around that? I suppose each gym would need a couple of kiosks maybe?
Perhaps a signature pad. Lots of gyms still want paper waivers, so I'm not sure the effort is worth it yet for a signature pad.
If the waiver stations do print waivers, when scanned into RGP they'll automatically be classified on the correct customer... so that's most the battle anyways.
No paper would essentially save time though right? Whats the legality of not actually having paper?
The legality depends on your jurisdiction - since ultimately any case would be a state legal issue. And each state may (or may not) have different requirements of the digital signature.
And - bytes are bytes- and can be lost just like paper. I know for my gym I'll be using paper waivers for a while..... but will try to streamline the process digitally as much as possible so the paper aspect doesn't get in the way.
Of course, I'm kind of a paranoid guy :) I like backups (even paper) of everything including my membership forms.
Within 12 months there will be a sweet solution for waivers... I'm just not sure how it'll look yet!
Thanks
Andy
Completely agree about keeping paper backups. Just thinking out loud.
Would you happen to be talking about the waiver station?
Just an idea to keep things simple. How about having a kiosk that allows customers to fill out a PDF version of the facility's waiver. Everything except for the initials and signatures that is. The customer can then print it out and sign it. This gives you a hard copy. This could also be done via a facility's website.
Then a feature in RGP where when the waiver is scanned the computer can read the text that was inputed on to the waiver via the PDF Form. I know there must be some text recognition software out there that would work with printed text.
But to keep things simple the employee's fingers is the simplest way to get this done. It just isn't any fun when there are 400+ waivers to enter in a day.
Nick - that is basically my plan... but with one big exception. The waivers will be barcoded, and RGP will read the barcode and then pull the information in via the barcode reference.
This is a significant effort/feature because of the myriad ways gyms can construct their waivers, and I need to provide a flexible interface for them to capture (and overlay) the fields they want on the PDF document.
Does each field need a barcode or just the document?
You could maybe provide a standard form for facilities to use on their waivers that RGP would be able to read. They provide the legal mumbo jumbo on the top portion along with any facility specific info, and then paste your standard form in on the bottom for the RGP info.
The document will be assigned a barcode and rgp will read it and lookup the data.
Couldn't you make a terminal where the individual enters their personal info directly into the database.
The member then reads and signs a paper waiver at the terminal and brings it to the desk.
The staff then looks up the new member in Check-In, quickly scans it to make sure they've done it correctly (emergency contacts, email, whatever..) checks the initials and signature on the waiver and can tick the waiver box in the members details. They can then allocate a plastic tag & member number to the new member.
This way the staff can check to make sure the data (the standard format that exists already) is entered correctly and you get a paper waiver.
My insurers were very specific that the waiver had to be a separate document to the registration data form so that it couldn't be argued that the member was unaware that they were signing a document that effected their right to sue.
Just another possible system?
Christian
Christian - what you describe is basically what I describe above. The only difference is that the customers information is in a "holding area" until the staff member confirms the information. I prefer this because inevitably customers will create duplicate records, etc. at the waiver station and I don't want all that bogus data in the database. Operationally, this has no difference to what you describe because the information is automatically brought over from the holding area to the real database.
@Andy - Ahh, sorry, just re-read the whole thread again, all good - sounds like a great idea.
I am currently implementing this feature, and hope to release it in June. I'm psyched to finally have some time to get this done! If you are coming to the CWA Conference in Boulder, I will be previewing the waiver system there.
Cheers
Andy
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